Sunday, 12 November 2017

The Invasion of Scipio - Chapter 6 - The Battle of Flavius

The Delta valley was a ruin and most of the cities were wiped out by nuclear weapons deployed by both sides in an attempt to deny the other territory. You can read about the state of the invasion here:

The only two cities left in tact are Theseus and Flavius, both of them would have to be evacuated in the short term to avoid the effects of the nuclear fallout but could be saved and eventually rebuilt. Flavius was of particular importance for it's industrial and energy infrastructure. Xeno droptroops are assaulting the city while the Imperial defenders have dug in and are lined up to oppose them. ﻿﻿

The battle lines are drawn around Flavius with the Xenos having landed and consolidated their position in the north-west commercial sector and the Imperial defenders still holding onto the damaged industrial sectors in the south-east.

Map of the Flavius showing battle lines.

View of Flavius battlefield showing the deployment of the troops, damage caused by the orbital bombardment is evident in the industrial ruins in the top right of the photo.

This battle would be played out using Epic Armageddon, each side has three objectives on their half including the blitz, 1 point would be scored per objective held at the end of three turns. Lists used were the following:﻿

The war drums of the Imperial machine are beating as the final battle in the campaign begins. Imperial troops ready their lasguns as the xeno horde positions itself for a final assault.

Xeno Dominatrix war engine taking position ready to assault the Imperial lines.

The Imperial armour lined up to oppose the attackers and counter-attack at the first opportunity.

Xeno troops lined up using the cover of the buildings, ready to assault the Imperial defenders.

Imperial infantry company with heavy fire support have bunkered down in the middle of the table to provide a strong point for resistance.

Firing opens on the xeno right flank, the dominatrix and the shadow sword exchange shots from their large guns, each of them taking damage as a result but neither destroying the other.

On the opposite flank Imperial Chimeras and infantry attack a swarm of genestealers as they advance, they manage to surprise the xenos and force them to retreat out of the warehouse.

Both sides pour more troops into the middle of the field, Imperial tank regiment advances down the middle as Xenos spread out amongst the warehouse and silos.

On the other side of the battlefield, the xeno orbital bombardment fails to arrive at the designated time. The scouts of both sides skirmish off against one another, the genestealers charge the sentinels and wipe them out in one round of combat.

Imperial troops fire on the xenos and advance once again into the warehouses at close range, they overwhelming power causes losses on the bugs as they are forced to retreat.

Meanwhile the tank regiment and bombards fire upon the bio-titan and surrounding troops causing damage and shock.

The carnifex and hive tyrant finally make an assault on the tank regiment, however, they take fire from the infantry regiment bunkered up in the middle of the table. As a result their strength is reduced and their assault against the tanks flounders.

On the other flank, Once again the xeno orbital bombardment fails to land, robbing the xenos of their offensive power. The Shadowsword is forced to retreat due to fire from the Dominatrix, the xeno swarms advance through the power plant and onto the objective. The resulting assault ends in both sides taking heavy losses as one swarm is wiped out and the chimeras are broken the objective remains contested.

In the middle of the table the swarms have taken heavy losses from their failed assaults and from Imperial artillery. The Imperial armour advances taking the objectives on their opponent's board.

In the final move of the game, the Shadowsword lines up the bio-titan and finishes it off with it's macro-weapon, the resistance on this flank has collapsed.

The game ended on turn three, the xenos were contesting one objective in enemy territory but had lost the objectives on their own side of the table. The Imperial player was very clever with assaulting out of the Chimeras early to prevent the xenos getting their assaults off. Furthermore, the orbital bombardment failed to activate twice while the Imperial bombards were devastating in their effect.

Flavius was saved and the xeno threat has been wiped from the Delta Valley. The cost for the planet was high as three cities and untold millions have been wiped out completely but now the rebuilding process could begin. There was still work to do to hunt down the remnants of the invasion fleet and whatever bugs had managed to survive the nuclear fallout...........